Oil-Dri Corporation of America (ODC) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Oil Dry Corporation of America Q3 fiscal 2026 earnings discussion via webcast. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，感謝各位稍候。歡迎收看 Oil Dry Corporation of America 2026 會計年度第三季（Q3）財報說明會網路直播。(接線員指示) 請注意，今天的會議將被錄音。(接線員指示)

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dan Jaffee, President and CEO.

現在我想把會議交給今天的講者，總裁兼執行長 Dan Jaffee。

Thank you, and welcome, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to introduce who is here today to field questions.

謝謝，並歡迎各位。在開始之前，我想先介紹今天在場、將負責回答問題的團隊成員。

We have Susan Kreh, CFO and CIO; Aaron Christiansen, VP of Operations; Chris Lamson, Group Vice President of business-to-business and Strategic Growth Initiatives; Wade Robey, VP of Agriculture and President of Amlan International; Heath Wessels, VP of Sales for North America, Amlan International; Laura Scheland, Vice President and General Manager of the Consumer Products Division; Bruce Patsey, VP of Fluids Purification; Mervyn de Souza, VP of Research and Development; Jon Blake, VP and Corporate Controller; Tony Parker, VP, General Counsel and Secretary.

我們有財務長兼資訊長 Susan Kreh；營運副總裁 Aaron Christiansen；企業對企業（B2B）與策略成長計畫集團副總裁 Chris Lamson；農業副總裁暨 Amlan International 總裁 Wade Robey；Amlan International 北美銷售副總裁 Heath Wessels；消費性產品事業部副總裁兼總經理 Laura Scheland；流體淨化副總裁 Bruce Patsey；研發副總裁 Mervyn de Souza；副總裁暨公司財務控管長 Jon Blake；副總裁、總法律顧問兼公司秘書 Tony Parker。

And last but not least, Leslie Garber, our Director of Investor Relations, who will walk us through our Safe Harbor provisions.

最後但同樣重要的是，我們的投資人關係總監 Leslie Garber，她將帶領我們說明「安全港」條款。

Thank you, Dan, and welcome, everyone. On today's call, comments may contain forward-looking statements regarding the company's performance in future periods. Actual results in those periods may materially differ. In our press release and in our SEC filings, we highlight a number of important risk factors, trends and uncertainties that may affect our future performance. We ask that you review and consider those factors in evaluating the company's comments and in evaluating any investment in Oil-Dri stock. Thank you for joining us. Back to you, Dan.

謝謝你，Dan，也歡迎各位。在今天的電話會議中，部分評論可能包含有關公司未來期間表現的前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與該等期間的預期存在重大差異。在我們的新聞稿以及向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的文件中，我們強調了多項重要風險因素、趨勢與不確定性，可能影響我們未來的表現。我們請各位在評估公司評論以及評估對 Oil-Dri 股票的任何投資時，務必檢視並考量這些因素。感謝各位加入我們。交還給你，Dan。

All right. Thank you, Leslie. Before I turn it over to Susan to walk us through the quarter, I'm going to cover some long-term macro trends that are developing for Oil-Dri, which are right in line with what we said. As you'll recall, if you followed us for this period of time, about five years ago, our operations team led by Aaron identified that we needed to dramatically improve our facilities if we're going to continue to give our customers the high quality and the service that they demand and deserve, frankly.

好的。謝謝你，Leslie。在我把時間交給 Susan 帶大家回顧本季之前，我先談一些正在形成、對 Oil-Dri 而言的長期總體趨勢，這些趨勢與我們先前所說的完全一致。各位如果一路關注我們，應該記得大約五年前，由 Aaron 帶領的營運團隊認為，如果我們要持續提供客戶所要求且理應獲得的高品質與服務，坦白說，我們必須大幅改善我們的廠房設施。

And so I'm going to throw some numbers at you. If I lose you, you can always go back in the transcript later, and it will all be spelled out for you. But from fiscal '17 to fiscal '21, which is right before we announced this program, we averaged about $15 million in capital expense and about $13 million in depreciation.

所以我接下來會丟一些數字給各位。如果我講到你跟不上，你之後可以回去看逐字稿，裡面都會清楚列出。但從 2017 會計年度到 2021 會計年度（也就是我們宣布這項計畫之前），我們的資本支出平均約 1,500 萬美元，折舊平均約 1,300 萬美元。

When COVID hit and the whole global supply chain got hammered, everything was costing twice as much to replace as what its historical cost was. So remember, $15 million in capital, $13 million in depreciation. These last 5 years, we have spent almost $32 million a year in capital, so double. But the depreciation because it's a lagging indicator has averaged $15.5 million. Now this year, if you project, you take the third quarter in the cash flow statement and then project it for 9 -- 12 months, you'll get about $22.5 million.

當 COVID 爆發、全球供應鏈遭到重創時，所有設備的替換成本幾乎是歷史成本的兩倍。所以請記住：資本支出 1,500 萬美元、折舊 1,300 萬美元。過去這 5 年，我們每年資本支出接近 3,200 萬美元，等於翻倍。但由於折舊是落後指標，平均只有 1,550 萬美元。而今年如果你用現金流量表的第三季數字推估 9 到 12 個月，會得到大約 2,250 萬美元。

So what you're seeing is our depreciation was $13 million. It's now running about $22 million, but we're still spending over $30 million. So it's a lagging indicator, and it's catching up. So why am I telling you all this? I'm telling you this because you're seeing pressure on our margins and as my dad always said, earnings are an opinion, cash is a fact, yet because our cash generation is super strong, and Susan will cover that.

所以你看到的是：我們的折舊原本是 1,300 萬美元，現在大約在 2,200 萬美元的水準，但我們仍然每年花超過 3,000 萬美元。因此折舊作為落後指標正在追上來。那我為什麼要跟各位講這些？因為你們看到我們的毛利率/利潤率承壓；就像我父親常說的，盈餘是觀點，現金是事實；而我們的現金創造能力非常強，Susan 也會說明。

So as the depreciation catches up with the capital, which will happen over time, if your average useful life is 10 years, if we spend $30 million for 10 years, 5 years from now because we'll be 5 years into it, the depreciation will be about $30 million a year. So the margins are going to continue to get pressured because when we went to our customers, it wasn't about us expanding our margins. It was about them helping us invest in our business so that we could give them the quality and quantity they deserve. And that was played out beautifully during Winter Storm Fern.

因此，隨著折舊逐步追上資本支出（這會隨時間發生），如果平均耐用年限是 10 年，我們連續 10 年每年投入 3,000 萬美元，那麼 5 年後（因為已經進行到第 5 年），折舊大約會是每年 3,000 萬美元。所以利潤率會持續承壓，因為當我們與客戶溝通時，重點不是要擴大利潤率。而是希望他們協助我們投資於自身業務，讓我們能提供他們應得的品質與供應量。而這點在 Fern 冬季風暴期間得到了非常好的驗證。

Winter Storm Fern caused all sorts of grief for a lot of our competitors. We were able to navigate that storm very well because our facilities are really in great shape. And in this last quarter, our fill rate was 99.9% that means for every 1,000 pallets shipped, there were 999 ordered and one of them didn't make it onto a truck out of 1,000, 99.9%. That's ridiculously high, and we are getting Supplier of the Year awards from many customers because of our fill rates and our on-time shipping.

Fern 冬季風暴讓許多競爭對手都吃了不少苦頭。我們能夠非常順利地度過那場風暴，因為我們的廠房狀況真的非常好。而在上一季，我們的供貨達成率（fill rate）是 99.9%，也就是每出貨 1,000 個棧板，有 999 個符合訂單，只有 1 個沒有在 1,000 個之中如期裝上卡車，99.9%。這高得離譜；也因為我們的供貨達成率與準時出貨表現，許多客戶頒給我們「年度供應商」獎項。

So I'm going to turn it over to Susan, but I want to thank our customers for their support. I want you guys to understand, yes, you're going to see some margin pressure, but zero in on the cash generation, and that's where you'll see what's going on here at Oil Product.

接下來我把時間交給 Susan，但我想先感謝客戶對我們的支持。我也希望各位理解：是的，你們會看到一些利潤率壓力，但請把焦點放在現金創造能力上，從那裡你們就能看出 Oil Product 這裡正在發生什麼。

Yes. Thanks, Dan. As Dan highlighted last summer when we were moving into fiscal year 2026, our expectation was that the first half of the year would have a tough comparison to the very robust first half that we had in fiscal year 2025.

好的。謝謝你，Dan。如 Dan 去年夏天在我們邁入 2026 會計年度時所強調的，我們的預期是：上半年將面臨與 2025 會計年度上半年非常強勁表現相比的艱難比較基期。

We had also indicated that we expected to pick up year-over-year momentum in the second half of our fiscal year, and that is what happened during our third fiscal quarter. So my comments today will focus on several third quarter financial highlights as well as a financial challenge.

我們也曾指出，我們預期在本會計年度下半年，年對年動能會回升，而這正是在我們第三會計季所發生的情況。因此，我今天的評論將聚焦於第三季的幾項財務重點，以及一項財務挑戰。

So highlight number one, our third quarter net sales of $126 million were 9% higher than net sales in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. In our Retail and Wholesale Products Group, we experienced significant growth in cat litter sales, which were up 13% over the same quarter in the prior year, driven by higher demand in our coarse, lightweight, co-packaged and Crystal products. Notably, we expanded our co-packaged offering to include lightweight litter and our crystal cat litter volumes reached record high sales levels. So some really good tailwinds there. In our Business-to-Business Products Group, we experienced substantial demand-driven top line growth in our Agricultural and Animal Health businesses.

重點一：我們第三季淨銷售額為 1.26 億美元，較 2025 會計年度第三季的淨銷售額高出 9%。在我們的零售與批發產品事業群中，貓砂銷售顯著成長，較去年同期增加 13%，主要由粗顆粒、輕量化、共同包裝（co-packaged）以及水晶產品需求提升所帶動。值得注意的是，我們擴大共同包裝產品組合，納入輕量化貓砂，而我們的水晶貓砂銷量也達到創紀錄的高銷售水準。因此有一些非常有利的順風因素。在我們的企業對企業（B2B）產品事業群中，農業與動物健康業務出現由需求帶動的顯著營收成長。

Highlight number 2, our top line growth, combined with the year-over-year reduction in selling, general and administrative costs resulted in an increase in income from operations of 23% over the same quarter in the prior year.

重點二：我們的營收成長，加上銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）年對年下降，使營業利益較去年同期增加 23%。

And that strong earnings growth performance led to highlight number three, and Dan touched on this in his opening comments, where our strong earnings drove the generation of $25 million of net cash provided by operating activities during our fiscal third quarter. Very, very good cash generation. And this strong cash generation continues to enable us to make the investments needed to strengthen and grow our business, also as were highlighted in Dan's opening comments.

而這項強勁的獲利成長表現帶來重點三；Dan 在開場也提到：我們強勁的獲利推動了本會計年度第三季營業活動提供的淨現金達 2,500 萬美元。現金創造非常、非常好。而這樣強勁的現金創造能力，也持續讓我們能夠進行必要投資，以強化並成長我們的業務，這點也如 Dan 開場所強調。

Now on the flip side, we faced a challenge during the quarter in terms of cost pressure on our gross margin, which was unfavorably impacted by a 190 basis points reduction compared to the same quarter in the prior year. Our domestic cost per ton of goods sold was up 6% year-over-year, driven by increases in purchased materials, labor, packaging and transportation costs.

另一方面，本季我們在毛利率方面面臨成本壓力的挑戰，與去年同期相比不利地下降了190個基點。我們國內每噸銷貨成本年增6%，主要受外購原料、人工、包裝及運輸成本上升所帶動。

So how are we addressing these cost challenges? We start by focusing on costs within our control. Our manufacturing and operations team, together with support from the rest of the organization, works to help offset these economic headwinds by focusing on and investing in productivity and cost reduction initiatives. At the same time, our sales teams partner with our customers to identify and deliver reductions in costs.

那麼我們如何因應這些成本挑戰？我們首先聚焦於我們可控的成本。我們的製造與營運團隊在組織其他部門的支援下，透過聚焦並投資於生產力提升與降本計畫，來協助抵銷這些經濟逆風。同時，我們的銷售團隊也與客戶合作，找出並實現成本降低。

And then finally, it is our responsibility to adjust our pricing to mitigate the negative impacts these costs have on our margins. We are working through this carefully as our product groups are impacted to different degrees by costs such as packaging, freight and transportation and purchase materials.

最後，我們也有責任調整定價，以減輕這些成本對我們利潤率造成的負面影響。我們正謹慎推進，因為各產品群受到包裝、運費與運輸以及外購原料等成本的影響程度不一。

So to conclude, we continue to work together to drive opportunities for profitable growth and to demonstrate our ability to generate cash flow, which is the lifeblood for funding our growth and for providing returns to our stakeholders. And our belief in the sustainability of that cash flow generation inspired us to announce last week that our Board of Directors raised our dividend to $0.225 per share of common stock payable on August 21, 2026.

總結來說，我們將持續攜手合作，推動獲利成長的機會，並展現我們創造現金流的能力；現金流是支持我們成長資金來源以及為利害關係人提供回報的命脈。而我們對此現金流創造能力可持續性的信心，也促使我們在上週宣布董事會將股利提高至每股普通股0.225美元，並將於2026年8月21日支付。

That represents a 10% increase over the most recent dividend paid. That increase is on top of the dividend increase that we announced in December of 2025. We understand the sustainability and predictability of our dividend, along with profitable growth is important to our long-term shareholders and to our customers.

這較最近一次已支付的股利提高了10%。這次調升是在我們於2025年12月宣布的股利調升之上再度增加。我們理解，股利的可持續性與可預測性，以及獲利成長，對我們的長期股東與客戶都很重要。

With that, I'll turn it back over to you.

接下來我把時間交還給你。

Thank you, Susan. Before we open up for Q&A, I want to correct one thing I said. I got it a little bit -- I didn't even get a little bit backwards. I got it totally backwards. Our fill rate of 99.9% means we shipped 999 pallets for every 1,000 ordered and one pallet didn't make it. I think I said it in reverse. So now I've corrected it. And so now we can open up the Q&A line.

謝謝你，Susan。在我們開始Q&A之前，我想更正我剛才說的一件事。我有點——其實不只是有點說反了。我是完全說反了。我們99.9%的出貨達成率（fill rate）表示每下單1,000個棧板，我們出貨了999個，只有1個棧板沒有送達。我想我剛才是反過來說了。所以現在我已經更正。那麼現在我們可以開放Q&A。

Perfect. We ask that you please submit your questions using the Ask a Question field on the webcast and click Submit. The first question comes from John Bair from Ascend Wealth Advisors and he asks, what do you attribute the elevated cat litter demand to? Laura, can you please answer that for us?

太好了。請各位透過網路直播上的「Ask a Question」欄位提交問題，並點擊Submit。第一個問題來自Ascend Wealth Advisors的John Bair，他問：你們認為貓砂需求偏高主要歸因於什麼？Laura，請你為我們回答。

Sure. Good morning. And John, thank you for your question. Yes, very pleased with the 10% year-over-year increase in our domestic cat litter sales, excluding co-packaged products in the third quarter.

好的。各位早安。John，謝謝你的提問。是的，我們對第三季國內貓砂銷售年增10%感到非常滿意（不含代工包裝產品）。

The increase was driven by higher demand as well as a shift of orders from third quarter caused by the delays from Winter Storm Fern, but really excited about the continued higher increased demand for the litter products. Some of this is attributed to growth in the category with an increase in cat ownership as well as increased sales of our crystal, lightweight and coarse litter products.

這項成長來自需求增加，以及因冬季風暴Fern造成延誤而使部分訂單從第三季移轉，但我們更為貓砂產品需求持續走高而感到振奮。其中一部分可歸因於品類成長——養貓數量增加——以及我們水晶砂、輕量型與粗顆粒貓砂產品銷售提升。

During the quarter, our Crystal cat litter reached record sales for us in the quarter. The growth was driven by both private label and branded crystal products. We leveraged established relationships with existing key clay customers to expand our private label Crystal business and really become a valued supplier for our customers.

本季我們的水晶貓砂創下單季銷售新高。成長同時來自自有品牌（private label）與品牌水晶產品。我們運用與既有主要膨潤土（clay）客戶建立的關係，擴大自有品牌水晶砂業務，並真正成為客戶重視的供應商。

In addition, we continue to build the distribution of our branded crystal items in both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce and launched our new health monitoring Crystal products under Cat's Pride Ultra and private label brands, and we are very excited about our expanded Crystal litter portfolio.

此外，我們持續在實體通路與電商通路擴大品牌水晶產品的鋪貨，並以Cat's Pride Ultra與自有品牌推出新的健康監測水晶產品；我們對擴充後的水晶貓砂產品組合感到非常興奮。

In addition, we saw increased sales in the lightweight and coarse segments with expanded distribution and new branded and private label lightweight and course items. In fiscal 2026, we've launched 2 new Cat's Pride pail items and Cat's Pride Max Power Pro, which is our e-com exclusive items as well as multiple private label clay items. We remain pleased and excited about the momentum of our cat litter business and the year to go.

另外，我們在輕量型與粗顆粒區隔也看到銷售增加，受惠於通路擴張以及新的品牌與自有品牌輕量型與粗顆粒品項。在2026會計年度，我們推出了2款新的Cat's Pride桶裝產品，以及Cat's Pride Max Power Pro（我們的電商獨家品項），並推出多款自有品牌膨潤土產品。我們對貓砂業務的動能以及接下來一年的表現仍感到滿意且期待。

Great. Thank you. We have two questions regarding the Amlan business. One comes from John Bair and the other one from Robert Smith, Center for Performance Investing. I'm going to combine -- I'm going to read the questions and then Wade Robey will answer them.

很好。謝謝。我們有兩個關於Amlan業務的問題，一個來自John Bair，另一個來自Center for Performance Investing的Robert Smith。

John says, good to see Amlan International sales were up, helped by your reference to additional demand from new end user accounts. Are these new accounts likely to be repeat customers with potential to expand their purchase volumes?

John說：很高興看到Amlan International的銷售成長，你提到新增終端用戶客戶帶來額外需求。這些新客戶是否可能成為回購客戶，並有機會擴大採購量？

And then in addition, Robert Smith is interested in the state of the Amlan business for the next 12 to 18 months? And if there are any competitive constraints proving difficulty in moving the needle at Amlan. Wade, will you please address those?

另外，Robert Smith想了解未來12到18個月Amlan業務的狀況如何？以及是否有任何競爭方面的限制，使Amlan難以取得實質進展。Wade，請你回應一下。

I will, and thank you, Leslie, and good morning, everybody. John and Robert, thank you for your question. I'll start with where we were in the first half of the year, and we reported this in a previous earnings call, where we had lost a key account in one of our world areas, which certainly impacted our business, and we reported against that.

我會的，謝謝你，Leslie，各位早安。John與Robert，謝謝你們的提問。我先從今年上半年談起；我們在先前的法說會中曾提到，我們在某個全球區域失去了一個關鍵客戶，這確實影響了我們的業務，我們也在當時就此進行說明。

But the team has been 100% focused on two things. One, we're gaining our share at that key account, but also expanding our business by bringing on new customers, not only in that particular world area, but in all world areas that we serve. I'm happy to report in both cases, we've been successful. We haven't 100% regained that key account, but we've gotten a foothold in there again and are seeing that business grow.

但團隊百分之百聚焦在兩件事。第一，我們正在該關鍵客戶處重新取得市占；同時也透過導入新客戶來擴大業務，不僅是在那個特定全球區域，也涵蓋我們服務的所有全球區域。我很高興地報告，這兩方面我們都取得成功。我們尚未百分之百拿回那個關鍵客戶，但我們已重新取得立足點，並看到該業務正在成長。

But what I'm truly excited about is in response to that, we've also grown our business base in each world area. So we've been expanding the accounts that we we serve as well as selling more of the accounts that have been existing customers. All those things contribute, I believe, to a strong outlook for the business.

但真正令我興奮的是，作為回應，我們也在各個全球區域擴大了業務基礎。因此，我們一方面擴增所服務的客戶數，同時也對既有客戶銷售更多。我相信，這些因素共同帶來了對該業務的強勁展望。

Now as we look forward, we're going to focus on what we actually have been doing over the previous 12 months, which is continue to build the relationships with our key distribution partners, but also with our end-user customers.

展望未來，我們將聚焦於過去12個月一直在做的事：持續與主要經銷合作夥伴建立關係，同時也與終端用戶客戶深化關係。

In Amlan, we believe we truly have a differentiating value proposition, which makes us very competitive in this market. And that includes not only the value of our core mineral, but also the other things that really set Oil-Dri apart, and that's our vertical integration, our excellent manufacturing capability and the ability to control the quality and consistency of the value that we bring to our customers from the mine all the way to the feed mill where our customers formulate our products in their rations.

在Amlan，我們相信我們確實具備差異化的價值主張，使我們在此市場非常具競爭力。這不僅包括我們核心礦物的價值，也包括其他真正讓Oil-Dri脫穎而出的要素：垂直整合、卓越的製造能力，以及能夠控管我們為客戶帶來價值的品質與一致性——從礦山一路到飼料廠，客戶在那裡將我們的產品配入其日糧配方中。

All of those things, we believe, again, give us a competitive advantage, which will allow us to grow in the future. So very excited about the business. We're going to focus on what has helped us be successful to date, and those are those key elements of the strategy that I've mentioned.

我們相信，以上各項同樣賦予我們競爭優勢，讓我們能在未來成長。因此我們對這項業務非常振奮。我們將聚焦於迄今協助我們成功的因素，也就是我剛才提到的那些策略關鍵要素。

Great. Thank you. The next question is from John Bair. He asks, the Middle East conflict has seriously constrained jet fuel and biofuel supply and inventories globally. A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted how airlines are scrambling to secure sustainable aviation fuel. Has Oil-Dri seen a pickup in demand from its biofuel producing customers? Bruce, would you like to address that, please?

很好。謝謝。下一個問題來自 John Bair。他問到，中東衝突已嚴重限制全球噴射燃油與生質燃料的供應與庫存。《華爾街日報》近期一篇文章指出，航空公司正急於確保永續航空燃料。Oil-Dri 是否看到來自其生質燃料生產客戶的需求回升？Bruce，請你回應一下好嗎？

Sure. Thanks for the question. There are two segments. You have the mineral oil that's being processed in the jet fuel. And we have seen an increase in business actually in that marketplace based on the war in the Middle East.

當然。謝謝你的問題。這裡有兩個區塊。一個是用於噴射燃油加工的礦物油。而我們確實看到，基於中東戰事，該市場的業務量有所增加。

Margins are running real high right now for these refineries. So they're producing more fuel, which is helping drive our sales. On the SAF front, the plants that we do sell today that produce SAF, they are seeing increased business, and we are seeing increased sales because of that.

這些煉油廠目前的利潤率非常高。因此他們生產更多燃料，進而帶動我們的銷售。在 SAF（永續航空燃料）方面，我們目前有供貨、且生產 SAF 的工廠，他們的業務量正在增加，而我們也因此看到銷售成長。

There are other plants that I think over the next 12 months, we will be adding SAF capacity which should help drive more sales in the future. But right now, the market still doesn't have enough capacity to meet all the demands on SAF.

我認為未來 12 個月內，還會有其他工廠新增 SAF 產能，這應該會在未來帶動更多銷售。但就目前而言，市場的產能仍不足以滿足所有對 SAF 的需求。

Okay. Next question comes from Robert Smith. R&D is the lifeblood of new products and growth. How are you adapting artificial intelligence in the innovation lab? Do you feel it will lead to faster introductions? Mervyn, can you please take that?

好的。下一個問題來自 Robert Smith。研發是新產品與成長的命脈。你們如何在創新實驗室中導入人工智慧？你覺得這會帶來更快的產品導入嗎？Mervyn，請你回答一下？

Sure. Thanks for the question, Robert. As I've mentioned before, the R&D team is actively engaged with all of our Oil-Dri divisions and operations teams as we explore opportunities both to use our existing sorbent minerals in new applications and drive improvements with our existing products.

當然。謝謝你的問題，Robert。如我先前提到的，研發團隊正積極與 Oil-Dri 各事業部與營運團隊合作，探索機會：一方面將我們既有的吸附礦物用於新的應用，另一方面也推動既有產品的改良。

AI has a lot of potential to accelerate growth and innovation in R&D. And at Oil-Dri, we continue to explore artificial intelligence and capabilities to increase efficiency and effectiveness through enhancing our ability to more rapidly technology and access market attractiveness.

AI 在加速研發成長與創新方面具有很大潛力。在 Oil-Dri，我們持續探索人工智慧及其能力，透過強化我們更快速評估技術並判斷市場吸引力的能力，來提升效率與效能。

Wonderful. Thank you. Next question is from John Bair. Have your shipping costs for silica crystals from China region have been affected due to the conflict in the Middle East? If so, have you been able to recoup some or all of that impact through pricing adjustments? Laura, can you address that, please?

太好了。謝謝。下一個問題來自 John Bair。由於中東衝突，你們從中國地區運送矽晶體的運輸成本是否受到影響？若有，你們是否能透過調整定價回收部分或全部影響？Laura，請你回應一下？

Sure. In the third quarter, the Middle East conflict didn't have a meaningful impact on the inbound ocean freight for silicon crystals from China and the lower tariff rate from approximately 49% to 39% offset the increases we saw in the third quarter. However, we are continuing to see increases in freight costs and are carefully evaluating pricing opportunities and cost synergies to mitigate these costs.

當然。在第三季，中東衝突對自中國進口矽晶體的入境海運費並未造成顯著影響，而關稅稅率由約 49% 降至 39% 也抵銷了我們在第三季看到的運費上升。不過，我們仍持續看到運費成本上升，並正審慎評估定價機會與成本綜效，以降低這些成本的影響。

Wonderful. Okay. The next question, I'm actually going to combine 2 questions. Robert Smith asks, what is the state of the fluid purification sector for the next 12 to 18 months. But we also had a question regarding the press release, we said that in Q3, sales of fluid purification products were down slightly year-over-year by 1%. Can you provide more detail on the underlying performance of that business? Bruce?

太好了。好的。下一個問題我會把兩個問題合併。Robert Smith 問到，未來 12 到 18 個月流體淨化（fluid purification）產業的狀況如何。另外也有人針對新聞稿提問，我們提到第三季流體淨化產品銷售年減 1%，略為下滑。你能否提供該業務基本面表現的更多細節？Bruce？

Sure, thanks very much for the question. Our business actually for the quarter in North America was up. We had a real strong quarter. However, in some of our export business, we saw a decline -- a slight decline in sales due to the crop -- last year's crop, which came in, in October, the quality of the crop was very good. So it's a good quality crop, they use less clay to process it. So it wasn't due to loss of business. It was more around just the amount of clay needed to process the oil.

當然，謝謝你的提問。我們本季在北美的業務其實是成長的。我們有一個非常強勁的季度。不過，在部分出口業務上，我們看到銷售下滑——小幅下滑，原因與作物有關——去年 10 月收成的作物品質非常好。因為作物品質好，加工時使用的黏土（clay）就更少。所以這不是因為流失生意。而是因為加工油品所需的黏土用量變少。

As we look forward in our business, we see it's still going to see very good strong demand for our products in this market. There are a few new plants coming up in North America, both in the renewable and vegetable oil sectors that should help drive some more sales. And then just in general, the industry is healthy. And with the tax breaks that are out there for these companies to make renewable fuels, we think that's going to be a very stable market over the next 12 to 18 months.

展望未來，我們認為在這個市場對我們產品的需求仍會非常強勁。北美有幾座新工廠即將投產，涵蓋再生燃料與植物油領域，應可帶動更多銷售。整體而言，產業狀況健康。再加上政府對這些公司生產再生燃料所提供的稅賦優惠，我們認為未來 12 到 18 個月將會是一個非常穩定的市場。

Great. Okay. We have another question regarding cat litter. Are you still experiencing increased competitor activity with higher trade spending levels in the cat litter category? If so, how are you navigating this situation? Laura?

很好。好的。我們還有一個關於貓砂的問題。你們是否仍在貓砂品類中，看到競爭對手活動增加、通路費用（trade spending）水準提高？若是，你們如何因應這種情況？Laura？

Sure. Yes, we are continuing to see elevated promotional activity, trade spending and competitive pricing pressure in the cat litter category. We are working to navigate with strategic trade spend, price pack architecture to protect and expand our distribution.

當然。是的，我們仍持續看到貓砂品類的促銷活動偏高、通路費用增加，以及競爭性定價壓力。我們正透過策略性的通路投入與價格／包裝架構（price pack architecture），來保護並擴大我們的通路鋪貨與覆蓋。

In addition, we are focused on strategic marketing and advertising. During the third quarter, we launched our Go Big or Go Home retail integration campaign with a goal to donate 1 million pounds of cat litter to shelters across the country.

此外，我們也聚焦於策略性的行銷與廣告。在第三季，我們推出「Go Big or Go Home」的零售整合行銷活動，目標是向全國收容所捐贈 100 萬磅貓砂。

As part of the campaign, we partnered with the American Humane Society and our retail customers to help cats find their forever homes, which is a message that resonates with both our customers and our consumers. And it's exciting as it coincides with National Pet Month in May and includes social media influencers, retail offers and shopper marketing to drive both upper funnel awareness and all the way down through in-store presence and conversion.

作為該活動的一部分，我們與 American Humane Society（美國人道協會）以及零售客戶合作，協助貓咪找到永遠的家；這個訊息同時能引起我們客戶與消費者的共鳴。而且很令人振奮的是，活動時點也與 5 月的「全國寵物月」相呼應，並結合社群媒體影響者、零售優惠與購物者行銷（shopper marketing），以推動從上層漏斗的認知到店內曝光與轉換的全流程成效。

So to kind of summarize, we are doing strategic spending at the store levels with key customers and to protect and expand distribution as well as strategic advertising and marketing to really drive consumer decision at the point of sale and remain focused on driving the best performance and return for every dollar of spend.

因此簡單總結，我們在門市層級針對關鍵客戶進行策略性投入，以保護並擴大通路，同時也透過策略性廣告與行銷，真正影響消費者在銷售點的決策；並持續專注於讓每一分投入的費用都能帶來最佳表現與報酬。

Great, thank you. The next question is from Tyler Ventura, Diamond Hill Capital. Given that you own 11,700 acres of proprietary mineral reserves and asset competitors must source externally, are you strategically using that advantage in your R&D to create projects in adjacent markets? Dan, did you want to talk about our unique mineral reserves?

很好，謝謝。下一個問題來自 Diamond Hill Capital 的 Tyler Ventura。鑑於你們擁有 11,700 英畝的專有礦產儲量，而競爭對手必須對外採購，你們是否在研發上策略性運用這項優勢，在相鄰市場創造專案？Dan，你想談談我們獨特的礦產儲量嗎？

Sure. Yes. I mean, thanks for the question. Listen, the vertical integration strategy was something my father embarked upon back in the early '60s when he recognized we would get squeezed out between the market and the suppliers and the customer. So year after year after year, we've continued to leverage that strategy.

當然。是的。我是說，謝謝你的問題。聽著，垂直整合策略是我父親在 60 年代初期就開始推動的，當時他意識到我們會在市場、供應商與客戶之間被擠壓。因此年復一年，我們持續運用並發揮這項策略。

We are firmly committed to having 40 years reserves in all product lines. We have I think, over 100 years of reserves in total. But for any individual product line, we have 40. And what that enables us to do is to become very, very deeply invested in our mineral. So I've been saying this for years. If there's value in calcium bentonite, we're the company to invest in. If there isn't, then I run for the hills. But luckily, this is what we know. This is what we do. We invest every year in R&D.

我們堅定承諾在所有產品線都維持 40 年的儲量。我想，我們合計的儲量超過 100 年。但就任何單一產品線而言，我們有 40 年。而這讓我們能夠對我們的礦物進行非常、非常深入的投入。所以我多年來一直這麼說。如果鈣基膨潤土有價值，我們就是值得投資的公司。如果沒有，那我就會拔腿就跑。但幸運的是，這正是我們所了解的。這正是我們所做的。我們每年都投入研發。

And again, I've said over the years, we're only limited by our own imagination. So we've gotten into product lines that we never would have thought of. I mean, Amlan is a perfect example. Even the fluids purification group, when my father first built that plant, it was to get into the gel clay business and our product didn't work well there, but it's like the posted notes. Sometimes you build something for one application, you find a different one. And just by understanding our mineral, we figured out that our Georgia clay was uniquely qualified to work in that fluids purification area.

而且我這些年也一直說，我們唯一的限制就是自己的想像力。所以我們進入了一些我們從未想過的產品線。我的意思是，Amlan 就是一個完美的例子。甚至是液體淨化事業群，當我父親最初建那座工廠時，是為了進入凝膠黏土（gel clay）業務，而我們的產品在那裡表現不佳，但這就像便利貼一樣。有時候你為了一種用途打造某樣東西，卻發現了另一種用途。而且僅僅透過理解我們的礦物，我們就發現喬治亞黏土在液體淨化領域具有獨特的適用性。

So I'm not really going to give you too much about the forward-looking stuff because I'm not a fan of yelling to the competition what plays we're going to run. That tends not to yield a lot of yardage. But I will tell you that this is where we're focused. This is what we want to be the global experts in, which is calcium bentonite. And we're going to continue to do everything we can to better understand our reserves so that we can, as you say, supply in adjacent markets or give existing customers better products that do more enhanced things for them as they buy from us.

所以我不會跟你談太多前瞻性的內容，因為我不喜歡對競爭對手大喊我們要跑哪些戰術。那通常不會帶來太多進展。但我會告訴你，我們的重點在這裡。這是我們希望成為全球專家的領域，也就是鈣基膨潤土。而我們將持續盡一切所能更深入了解我們的儲量，這樣我們就能如你所說，在相鄰市場供應，或為現有客戶提供更好的產品，讓他們在向我們採購時能獲得更強化的效益。

So you'll know if you've been following us, our mission is to create value from sorbent minerals and it's working. So we're actually selling less tonnage today than we did 25 years ago, which is sort of stunning given if you look at where the market cap of the company is going. So it shows that really what you want to chase is not tons, but value, and that's what we're doing. So did that answer?

所以如果你一直在關注我們，你會知道我們的使命是從吸附性礦物中創造價值，而且正在奏效。因此，我們今天實際上賣出的噸數比 25 年前還少，考慮到你看看公司市值的走勢，這有點令人震驚。這顯示你真正要追求的不是噸數，而是價值，而這正是我們在做的。所以這回答了嗎？

Yeah, that answers. Great. We have another question from Ethan Star. He's following up on Wade Robey's earlier comments. What are the prospects for significant sales growth for Amlan products? Wade?

是的，回答了。很好。我們還有一個來自 Ethan Star 的問題。他是在追問 Wade Robey 先前的評論。Amlan 產品實現顯著銷售成長的前景如何？Wade？

Yeah, thank you, Leslie. Thank you, Leslie, and thank you, Ethan, for that question. It gives me the opportunity to say just how excited I am about the prospects for the future. If you look at Amlan, a lot of the folks that have joined the organization joined Oil-Dri over the last couple of years have been people that are very experienced in the industry.

好的，謝謝你，Leslie。謝謝你，Leslie，也謝謝你，Ethan，提出這個問題。這讓我有機會說明我對未來前景有多麼興奮。如果你看 Amlan，過去幾年加入組織、加入 Oil-Dri 的許多人，都是在這個產業非常有經驗的人。

We've done that because we believe in the technology of Oil-Dri Amlan and what kind of value that we can deliver to the market. As we look at the growth we're seeing in all world areas, we feel very good about that. We have strong partnerships, strong customers. And so the long-term outlook is very good for the organization.

我們這麼做是因為我們相信 Oil-Dri Amlan 的技術，以及我們能為市場帶來的價值。當我們看著在全球各地區看到的成長，我們對此感到非常樂觀。我們有強大的合作夥伴、強大的客戶。因此，對組織而言，長期展望非常好。

Excellent. Ethan Star has another question. Given the uncertain economy, are you seeing any increase in consumers shifting to private label cat litter from branded cat litter? Laura?

很好。Ethan Star 還有另一個問題。在經濟不確定的情況下，你們是否看到消費者從品牌貓砂轉向自有品牌貓砂的情況增加？Laura？

Sure. At this point, with the heightened promotional environment, seeing limited shifting as branded products are heavily discounted. However, seeing some shifting. We monitor consumer sentiment closely and seeing it low back at kind of 2022 inflationary levels and expect that as sentiment continues to be low and promotional -- competitive promotional spending may level with some of the facing headwinds, expect that there could be additional shifting to private label.

當然。就目前而言，在促銷環境升溫的情況下，由於品牌產品大幅折扣，我們看到的轉移有限。不過，確實看到一些轉移。我們密切監測消費者情緒，看到它回落到大約 2022 年通膨時期的低位；並且預期，隨著情緒持續低迷，以及在一些逆風因素下促銷—競爭性的促銷支出可能趨於持平，可能會出現更多轉向自有品牌的情況。

Great. And our last question comes from Ethan Star, and he says, this is for Dan Jaffee. Why is the best still yet to come? And what opportunities are you most excited about over the next one to three years?

很好。我們最後一個問題來自 Ethan Star，他說這題是問 Dan Jaffee 的。為什麼最好的還在後頭？在未來一到三年，你最興奮的機會是什麼？

Ethan, thanks for the question. And again, I'm not a big fan of yelling out our place, so I'm not going to do that. But you can see we're investing heavily in the business. And other than to pay taxes or maybe to give some money away, my sisters and I are holding on to all of our shares. So we're either the dumbest people on the planet or we believe the best is yet to come. And my sisters are not dumb. I may be, but they are not.

Ethan，謝謝你的問題。再說一次，我不太喜歡把我們的策略大聲喊出來，所以我不會那麼做。但你可以看到我們正在大力投資這項業務。除了繳稅或也許捐一些錢之外，我和我的姊妹們都持有我們所有的股份。所以我們不是地球上最笨的人，就是我們相信最好的還在後頭。而我的姊妹們不笨。我可能是，但她們不是。

So you can understand from the major investors in this business, we are still very excited about the future. I will say it again, we are limited only by our own imagination. My grandfather would never have predicted what my dad did and my dad would never predicted what we're doing. So when I close, what I want to do is thank the Oil-Dri team because what you're seeing is a direct result of the cumulative incredible work and caring of 1,000 people globally, who are making this happen. I've been running it since '95.

所以你可以從這家公司的主要投資人看出來，我們仍然對未來非常興奮。我再說一次，我們唯一的限制就是自己的想像力。我祖父絕不會預測到我父親所做的事，而我父親也絕不會預測到我們正在做的事。所以在我結束之前，我想要感謝 Oil-Dri 團隊，因為你們所看到的一切，都是全球 1,000 位同仁累積的卓越努力與投入所直接帶來的成果，他們正在讓這一切成真。我從 1995 年開始經營這家公司。

And if you look at the progression, it's really accelerated in the last five years, and it's not that I got a lot smarter. It's really that the team has gelled together. I mean -- and those of the people who report to me, who I get to hear from a lot, have all said, this is the most cohesive team they've ever been on. We have our issues, but it's always about the business. It's never about ego, and it's -- you never have to worry that you can't trust your fellow teammates. So that's really what's happening here.

如果你看這個發展軌跡，過去五年確實加速了，而不是因為我變得更聰明了很多。真正的原因是團隊已經凝聚在一起。我的意思是——那些向我匯報、我經常聽取意見的人都說，這是他們參與過最有凝聚力的團隊。我們有我們的問題，但永遠都是關於業務。從來不是關於自我，而且——你永遠不必擔心你不能信任你的隊友。所以這才是真正正在發生的事。

It's just a lot of positive momentum, a lot of great work done every single hour of every single day to make this happen. And I just want to thank the team for that. So I think we'll close it at that. Great questions. We'll be back at you in another quarter, and it will be our fiscal year-end. So it will be exciting.

這就是大量的正向動能、每天每一小時都在做的大量出色工作，才讓這一切發生。我只想為此感謝團隊。所以我想我們就到此結束。問題都很棒。我們下一季會再與各位見面，那將是我們的會計年度年終。所以會很令人期待。

Thank you.

謝謝。

So Josh, we are done.

所以 Josh，我們結束了。

Thank you. This concludes the conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。本次會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以斷線。